Allyson Schwartz

From Freepedia

Allyson Y. Schwartz (born October 3, 1948) is a Democratic U.S. politician from the state of Pennsylvania, currently representing the state's 13th Congressional district (map) in the U.S. House.

Born in New York City, Schwartz received a B.A. from Simmons College in 1970, and a Masters degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1972. From 1975 to 1988, Schwartz was the executive director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, a women's health care center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1988 to 1990, Schwartz was Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services. In 1990, Schwartz was elected to the Pennsylvania state Senate, representing a district in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia. She was re-elected in 1994, 1998, and 2002. The district was extended into Montgomery County in the legislative reapportionment of 1991. In 2000, she was the runner-up in a hard fought six-way primary for United States Senate in which she won Montgomery County and Philadelphia with impressive numbers.

In 2004, Schwartz successfully ran for the U.S. House seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Joe Hoeffel for his unsuccessful U.S. Senate run. She in August 2003, had originally planned to run for Auditor General, providing her with the seed money to begin a race for the seat. Allyson Schwartz herself had significant campaigning and fundraising experience before her race for Congress. This experience greatly enhanced her likelihood of victory. She suceeded in defeating Republican Melissa Brown 56%-41%. She was inaugurated in January 2005 as part of the 109th Congress. Schwartz is married to Dr. David Schwartz, a cardiologist. She has two adult sons, is a resident of Jenkintown, and is a member of the Jewish faith.

Record Fundraising

Political scientists noted her record high level of fundraising. Former state legislators should raise more money from PACs and rely on them for higher proportions of their total receipts. However, despite Allyson Schwartz’s State Legislative experience, she raised $4,597,032 ([1]) from individual donations and comparatively little ($558,376) in PAC donations ([2]).

The finance department countered or prepared for Melissa Brown’s potential avenues for fundraising. They cut off her fundraising from PACs that would normally support her, such as Realtors and financial services by persuading them that Allyson Schwartz could also address their needs. The purpose of communicating with PACs was not always to try to gain contributions, for the campaign understood that certain PACs would not donate to Democratic candidates. Instead, their purpose was to say to them, "If you can’t support than don’t hurt us” and many did not contribute to the race on either side.

Further, it was the first year for the Millionaire’s Amendment giving an edge to the campaign in being able to ask for additional contributions if Melissa Brown put her own personal funds into the campaign. Also, they used the phrase “self-financed opponent” specifically to their advantage in mailings. Between the campaign’s discouragement of PAC contributions being directed towards Melissa Brown and being in a situation where either a financial or political benefit would be gained for the campaign by Brown’s self-financing of herself, the Allyson Schwartz for Congress Campaign had effectively countered Melissa Brown’s natural fundraising advantages.

The organization that gave the most to Allyson Schwartz’s campaign, in the form of bundled donations, was EMILY's List. EMILY's List financially contributed, directly and through bundling, an amount exceeding $213,338. Their non-financial contribution in terms of directing an additional finance person to assist with “call time” and encouraging those seeking to become involved politically in the immediate area to volunteer with the campaign were immeasurable. EMILY's List contributed immensely to the election of Allyson Schwartz through directing funds and personnel to the campaign and indirectly by being a key indicator in people’s donor history of whether or not people would be potential donors and should be solicited.

Another organization that provided financial and personnel help was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The DCCC established a bundled donations program, "Red to Blue." In this they solicited different members of Congress and PACs on the behalf of candidates in ten races on two or three separate occasions. They also coordinated volunteer activities and helped to fan out their staff members to close House races across the country. The DCCC realized that the Democratic Party could not afford to lose the thirteenth congressional district.

As a matter of trivia, a fundraiser held for Allyson Y. Schwartz was the first use of the Real World house in Philadelphia after the fifteenth season of the series had finished being filmed there.

Congressional Accomplishments

On January 10, 2005, Schwartz was appointed to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure [3]. On February 14, 2005, she was appointed to the Budget Committee [4]. She was credited with securing $52.5 million in federal funds for local infrastructure priorities as a part of the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) bill. Her accomplishment in this regard was positively reported by Philadelphia-area newspapers.

External Links and References

• Campaign website
• Official House website
• Berkman, Michael, and James Eisenstein. “State Legislators as Candidates: The Effects of Prior Experience on Legislative Behavior and Fundraising,” Political Science Quarterly, 52, no. 3 (1999): 481-498.

Preceded by: Joe Hoeffel

United States Representative for the 13th District of Pennsylvania 2005–

Succeeded by: Incumbent

Image:Pennsylvania state flag.png	Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation serving in the 109th United States Congress
Senators	Arlen Specter (R), Rick Santorum (R)
Representative(s)	Bob Brady (D), Chaka Fattah (D), Phil English (R), Melissa Hart (R), John E. Peterson (R), Jim Gerlach (R), Curt Weldon (R), Mike Fitzpatrick (R), Bill Shuster (R), Don Sherwood (R), Paul E. Kanjorski (D), John Murtha (D), Allyson Schwartz (D), Michael F. Doyle (D), Charles Dent (R), Joseph R. Pitts (R), Tim Holden (D), Tim Murphy (R), Todd Platts (R)
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